COMPOUND FLOWERS 169 



form of this plant has its leaves greenish and smooth above, when old ; 

 another (var. hyperhorea) has the leaves woolly on both sides. This species is 

 found very commonly on mountainous heaths. It is a pretty little plant, 

 from three to six inches high, the under sides of the leaves being completely 

 covered with cottony down. The flowers, which appear in July and August, 

 are very pretty; their white or rose-coloured involucres are of a chaffy 

 nature, like that of the garden Everlasting. 



2. Pearly Everlasting [A. margaritdcpci). — Stems erect, branched above, 

 herbaceous, woolly ; leaves slender and pointed, cottony, especially beneath ; 

 heads of flowers in level-topped corymbs ; stamens and pistils on separate 

 plants ; scales of the involucre white and blunt ; perennial. This is a 

 much larger species than the last, and is not truly wild, though found in 

 moist meadows in various parts of England and Ireland, as in the neighbour- 

 hood of Bocking, in Essex. It has long been commonly cultivated in our 

 gardens, where it is called White Everlasting, and it is a very pretty addition 

 to the winter bouquet, long retaining much of its beauty. Gerarde calls it 

 Cotton-weed, and speaking of an allied species, the Alpine Antennaria, says : 

 " The flower being gathered when it is young, may be kept in such manner as 

 it was gathered, I meane in such freshness and well-liking, by the space of a 

 whole yeare : wherefore our English women have called it Livelong, or live- 

 for-ever, which name doth aptly answer his effects." Ovir Pearly Cudweed 

 was also called Chafeweed in Yorkshire, because, according to Dr. Turner, it 

 was useful to cure the chafed skin. It is slightly bitter and mucilaginous, 

 and has been recommended as a demulcent in pectoral complaints. In Wales 

 it is commonly selected as a flower with which to deck the grave. It is 

 common in many parts of North America. Kalm says of it that it grows in 

 astonishing quantities about Pennsylvania upon all uncultivated fields, glades, 

 and hills. Its height, he says, is different according to its soil and situation. 

 Sometimes it is very much branched, and at others very little so. He adds : 

 " It has a strong but agreeable smell. The English call it Life Everlasting ; 

 for its flowers, which consist -chiefly of dry, shining, silvery leaves, do not 

 change when dried. The English ladies were used to gather great quantities, 

 and to pluck them with the stalks ; for they put them into pots, with or 

 without water, among other fine flowers, which they had gathered both in the 

 gardens and the fields, and placed them as an ornament in the rooms. The 

 English ladies are much inclined to have fine flowers all the summer long, ill 

 or upon the chimneys, sometimes on a table, or before the windows, either on 

 account of their fine appearance, or for the sake of their sweet scent. The 

 grass above mentioned was one of those they kept in their rooms during 

 winter, because its flowers never altered from what they were when they 

 stood in the ground. Mr. Bartram told me another use of this plant. A 

 decoction of the flowers and stalks is used to bathe any pain?,d or bruised 

 part, or it is rubbed with the plant itself tied up in a bag." 



32. Cudweed {Gnaphdlmm). 



1. Jersey Cudweed (G. luteo-dlbum). — Stems simple, branched from the 

 base ; leaves somewhat clasping, narrow, waved, woolly on both sides, lower 

 ones blunt ; heads in crowded leafy corymbs ; annual. This species is 



II.— 22 



